Decisions such as the one on further tax cuts had to be taken at the proper them when they would yield benefits for the country, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said in an interview today.

Questioned on the PN electoral promise to cut income tax, Dr Gonzi said the government was committed to implementing all its promises, but decisions should be taken at the appropriate time in the national interest.

The government, he pointed out, had over the past three years already reduced tax for various sections of society, including parents who sent their children to child-care centres and to private schools and host families. The government had also removed the tax on travel and reduced tax for businesses.

"When the country can take the next step, we will take it," Dr Gonzi said.

He said the opposition, in criticising the government for not bringing in more tax cuts immediately, was criticising the government for being responsible.

For, he said, in the past two years, the world had been buffeted by an economic and financial crisis which had also hit Malta. Many factories had threatened to close down. ST was also facing serious difficulties. The government, therefore, had concentrated its resources in that area.

Once economic recovery continued, the government would take the decisions that were seen to be the best in the interests of society, Dr Gonzi said. For the government, nothing could be better than to put more money in the people's pockets.

In the interview, broadcast on Radio 101, Dr Gonzi said the importance of the recent decisions taken with regard to ST Microelectronics lay in the fact that this multinational company had been persuaded that it was best for it to invest ion a new modern line of production here, rather than anywhere else.

He praised the workers for having opted to make some sacrifices in their own interest, the interest of their company and the country in the face of huge competition. He felt that the formula that had been agreed was fair and he appreciated the fact that the GWU had explained the situation to the workers. "We can now look forward with optimism" Dr Gonzi said.

REVISION OF BENEFITS TO SINGLE PARENTS

Questioned on the planned revision of benefits for single parents, announced in the pre-budget document, Dr Gonzi said the point of departure was that in matters which involved single parents, there was an innocent child.

"I cannot take any measures which in any way hurt the child," Dr Gonzi said.

Nonetheless he said, it was well known that some people abused the system. The government wanted to identify and attack this abuse while being careful not to hurt the children in any way.

The government, he said, needed to continue to help the genuine single parents, such as those who were abandoned by their partners and could hardly make ends meet as they paid for their housing and sought to meet all the needs of her child.

Such people, he said, could be helped to find a job, so as not to be dependant on social services.

It was wrong, he stressed, to place all single parents in the same basket. Some abused and were irresponsible, but such cases were not the majority. And in all cases, the mistake was not the children's.

DIVORCE

On divorce, Dr Gonzi said the debate was not opening now. Dr Sant's government 13 years ago had set up a commission which was tasked to lay the ground for divorce.

At the core of this debate, he said, was the family, and the family was within the DNA of the Nationalist Party.

One could not escape the reality of couples that broke up. The question everyone faced was to decide on what was best for the family and the country.

The debate needed to be carried out in a serene manner. The PN would continue this discussion and he hoped it would be profound. The PN throughout its history always discussed major issues and always left the major decisions to the electorate after taking its own position.

MIGRATION

On migration, Dr Gonzi noted that a senior EU official had recently praised the arrangement reached between Italy and Libya on the immediate repatriation of migrants found on the high seas and he hoped that the situation would continue to evolve in this manner.

Dr Gonzi said a report given to give by the AFM showed very clearly that in the recent rescue which involved Maltese and Libyan boats, the migrants voluntarily opted to embark on the Maltese or the Libyan boats. He was sure that the operation was carried out according to the international norms and that the rights of the migrants were respected.